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Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos will not return as their GM after turning down an extension and will seek employment elsewhere. There are no current GM positions available and after his success in Toronto he will not even consider any assistant GM positions.
Anthopoulos did not get along well with new team President Mark Shapiro. Shapiro scolded Anthopoulos for the moves he made at the deadline and feels that their former GM mortgaged too much of their future to make a postseason push. Anthopoulos has shown a good balance in the past or making moves for veterans while still keeping much of the team’s farm system in place. He’s widely regarded as one of the best young baseball minds in the league. Meanwhile Shapiro has been running the baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians for the last 15 years, resulting in more losing seasons than winning ones.
So Anthopoulos hits the free agent market in a market that doesn’t have any current openings. If Jerry Reinsdorf was smart, he would make room for Anthopoulos with the Chicago White Sox.
Let me stress that this is a pie in the sky idea that will almost certainly never happen. Reinsdorf is very loyal and would never let Kenny Williams go. Reinsdorf always desperately wanted a World Series championship (going on record saying he would trade his six Chicago Bulls championships for one World Series) and Williams was the man that brought him one. He will always be indebted to Williams for that title and Williams has earned what seems like a lifetime job under the White Sox owner.
But Reinsdorf loves baseball too much to sit on his laurels. He should see the writing on the wall. The White Sox have been stuck in mediocrity for a decade now and don’t appear to be anything more than a team that will win between 75 and 83 wins most seasons. With the White Sox roster and farm system, odds are that the team will spend far more years hitting below that window rather than above it. It’s time for a change in the White Sox front office and now is the perfect opportunity.
Williams needs to be let go and Anthopoulos should be brought in as a president of baseball operations. Anthopoulos can choose if he wants Rick Hahn to stay in his current role and he could also asses Robin Ventura moving forward. The White Sox should see what type of young team is being built by Theo Epstein across town and realize that Anthopoulos is the same type of baseball mind who could build that kind of future on the Southside as well.
Anthopoulos obviously hasn’t had the success that Epstein had with the Boston Red Sox, but Anthopoulos was also working in a much smaller market and had more challenges in building a competitive roster than Epstein did. Anthopoulos would face similar constraints with the White Sox; however the White Sox may operate as a larger market team again if the revenues increase.
It’s a great opportunity for the Reinsdorf and the White Sox, but one he is almost certainly not considering. White Sox fans can hope that Reinsdorf sees that his franchise has grown stale and needs a jolt. A move like this would put the American League on notice and make sure everyone kept an eye on Chicago. It’s a move that won’t happen but should. Now let’s see if Reinsdorf can prove me wrong.
Bill Zimmerman is a featured writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter or like him on Facebook.
